Closure of the Friary

The following email was sent to the press by Cllr Marion Drake regarding the proposed closure of the Friary in Cardiff City Centre.

You can read an earlier article from the South Wales Echo at About the Closure of the Friary, and also http://www.savethecardifffriary.co.uk.

I am contacting you to say how appalled I was to hear of the threat to the Friary and its continued use by the music service and other council services which provide very important support to people with specific learning needs.

The Music Service provides opportunities for hundreds of young people from all over Cardiff to come together in a central, easily accessed venue to develop skills which greatly enrich their own lives and the lives of our whole community. They make a great contribution to our culture and are important in Cardiff’s ambition to be recognised as a great Cultural Capital of a great Cultural Nation. To disperse these youngsters and their tutors to other venues across the City in order to reduce spending on them is not acceptable and I will be voting against this proposal.

During the year I was Lord Mayor of Cardiff ( 1998-99 ) many amazing events took place in Cardiff – such as the European Summit and the visit of Nelson Mandela to receive the Freedom of the City Amongst these I have never forgotten the concert given by the Youth Orchestras for the senior citizens of Cardiff. This was provided free and St David’s Hall was filled to overflowing with elderly residents. The quality of the playing and the pure enjoyment of young and old responding to one another was pure magic. In addition to their normal school day these youngsters had already played a concert the previous evening and their commitment to the physical demands of another full evening and that of their parents in bringing them and collecting them from the hall cannot be praised highly enough. It gave me great pleasure to be able to write to each member of the youth orchestra and their tutors, as Lord Mayor, to thank them on behalf of the people of Cardiff.

This free concert is still an annual event greatly looked forward to by many of our senior Citizens as the highlight of their year.

It is however only one of the many events put on by our talented youngsters who spend hours of hard work practising to develop their skills to the highest quality in a venue which is valued by all for its suitability and the musical tradition that is now associated with it. The Friary has become the home of music for thousands of young people who developed their musical skills there, are currently l developing their skill there, and those who are already working hard in our primary schools so that they can develop their skills there when they are old enough .To deprive them of this centre would be to fail to give recognition to the value of these young people to the community of Cardiff.

As already stated, for all these reasons, I will be voting against the proposal to close the Friary.

Cllr Marion Drake